Along with the growing production of vehicles in China may well come Chinese entries into the U.S. market, Reuters reported, citing Chrysler chief exec, Dieter Zetsche.

"You don't need to be clairvoyant to see the Chinese in this position," Zetsche said.

As a consequence, the excess supply of 3 million cars per year — two thirds of them imports — exerts severe price pressure in the U.S. market, which Zetsche called "the battlefield of the automobile industry," may become even worse.

Volvo Makes Deal for Yamaha SUV Engines

Yamaha, which is partly owned by Toyota, will provide Volvo, which is owned by Ford, with 4.4 liter V-8 engines a year for the next version of its XC90 SUV, Reuters reported, citing the Nihon Keizai business daily.

According to the report, Yamaha will supply between 15,000 and 20,000 engines a year to Volvo, although a Yamaha spokesman was unable to give a planned shipment number.

The 20 best-selling vehicles in the United States (ranked by total units) through October are:

RANK VEHICLE - 2004 - 2003 - 2003 RANK - %Change

pickup - 777,642 - 696,192 - 1 - +11.7

Chevy Silverado-C/K pickup - 644,411 - 645,704 - 2 - -0.2

Dodge Ram pickup - 363,646 - 375,311 - 5 - -3.1

Toyota Camry - 337,830 - 315,196 - 4 - +7.2

Honda Accord - 325,134 - 343,464 - 3 - -5.3

Ford Explorer - 289,872 - 312,940 - 6 - -7.4

Honda Civic - 262,958 - 259,461 - 8 - +1.3

Toyota Corolla/Matrix 259,389 - 227,282 - 9 - +14.1

Chevrolet Impala - 242,391 - 231,526 - 13 - +4.7

Chevrolet TrailBlazer - 234,344 - 217,495 - 14 - +7.7

Ford Taurus - 216,838 - 268,621 - 7 - -19.3

- 201,911 - 200,446 - 19 - +0.7

Nissan Altima - 199,917 - 171,875 - 15 - +16.3

Ford Focus - 181,231 - 196,188 - 12 - -7.6

GMC Sierra pickup - 176,679 - 162,490 - 17 - +8.7

Chevrolet Cavalier - 172,554 - 216,534 - 11 - -20.3

Chevrolet Tahoe - 159,520 - 162,888 - 13 - -2.1

Ford Escape - 156,307 - 139,856 - N/A - +11.8

Jeep Grand Cherokee - 148,559 - 163,718 - 18 - -9.3

- 144,558 - 107,306 - 20 - +34.7

Waiting for Rolls-Royce Phantom? Wait a Little Longer

BMW's Rolls-Royce brand will miss its 2004 sales target for its super-luxury , the Financial Times newspaper reported.

The Phantom was to have been launched by BMW's Rolls unit in Europe last year, but its intro was postponed as Rolls struggled in a sluggish market for super luxury cars. Citing people close to Rolls and BMW, the paper said the company was likely to sell 750 to 800 Phantoms in its first full year of production, well below its 1,000 target.

"Targets are set as objectives and of course they are often set high to encourage people to aim high," the paper quoted Graham Biggs, Rolls's head of corporate communications, as saying.